Today, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill to temporarily raise the debt ceiling, which included drastic provisions to increase time limits and exclusions for SNAP (formerly food stamps), the country’s most important and effective anti-hunger program that serves nearly 40 million Americans each year.
“The House today threw the American people under the bus in the name of political gamesmanship,” said Abby J. Leibman, President & CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. “Make no mistake: this bill is reckless. It will not help fix our debt ceiling crisis, but it will kick one million people off SNAP and exacerbate America’s hunger crisis. I am outraged that Speaker McCarthy and his cronies cynically used vulnerable Americans — the very people they are meant to represent in Congress — as political pawns by expanding cumbersome and arbitrary work requirements for safety net programs like SNAP. Rather than leading, the Speaker is perpetuating tired stereotypes by blaming and shaming poor people for debt created by providing wealthy businesses and individuals with unprecedented tax breaks.”
“It is reprehensible to make it more difficult for people to access government support when they need it most,” Leibman continued. “We need leaders who employ both wisdom and compassion to find responsible fiscal solutions that protect vital nutrition assistance for all Americans.”
Earlier today, MAZON cosponsored the Care Not Cuts rally on Capitol Hill, and last week MAZON participated in a press conference following the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition hearing about SNAP. The national organization’s 2023 Farm Bill priorities include strengthening SNAP and other federal nutrition programs, removing barriers to SNAP for specific populations like military families and single mothers, empowering tribal food sovereignty and food security in Indian Country, and improving equity for the people of Puerto Rico.